Socio-economic parameters have
significant impact on consumer’s attitude towards the usage of traditional
system of medicine in Tamilnadu, India. Though traditional systems of medicine have made significant
contributions towards fulfilling healthcare needs of the people in the past,
impacts of modern medicine have been so large that traditional medicine
witnessed a dark period in India. While such practices are common in the rural/ remote
areas, off late, change in the trend with respect to the usage of Siddha
medicine as complementary alternative therapy among urban population has been
observed. Present study aims to evaluate the resurgence of interest in Siddha
medicine among the people working in different sectors (occupation) in Tamilnadu, India.

Indigenous Medicine, also known as
“Traditional Medicine”, refers to knowledge pack concerned with healing,
practiced in a particular region, culture or country. Indigenous Medicine is
known for it’s holistically approach to promote mental, physical and
spiritual well-being. Long before the discovery and development of modern
scientific medicine such as the use of pharmaceutical drugs and doctor’s
surgery, traditional healing methods had been in use, and are still being in
use in ethnic culture. Having been rooted in practical wisdom over the ages,
it is still in practice in the rural remote areas where people have limited
access to modern medicine. In many rural communities across developing
countries, use of remedies based on traditional medicine forms the basic
framework of health care needs (WHO, 2002).

Every Traditional System of
Medicine has a methodology of its own and a body of knowledge preserved
through many centuries and is typically passed on orally from generation to
generation (WHO, 2000). Application of Indigenous Medicine include a wide
range of activities, from physical cures using herbal medicines and other
remedies, to the promotion of psychological and spiritual well-being using
ceremony, counseling and the accumulated wisdom of elders. The preparation
and dispensing of herbal medicines is one of the most common forms of Indigenous
Medicine practiced in different parts of the world (Rajagopalan, 1991).

Attention across the world is
focused towards alternative systems of medicine in recent past for the reason
that no medical system is complete for all the ailments encountered. Most of
the therapeutic approaches aim at symptomatic relief rather than providing
unambiguous cure to the problem. Hence, there is growing interest in
traditional system of medicine that caters the healthcare needs for a wider
population across the globe, especially in the developing countries. Also,
WHO recommends the practice of traditional system of medicine as it is
affordable, safe and culturally acceptable (WHO, 1998).

In India, two major traditional indigenous systems of medicine
are common, among these two, Ayurveda is practiced in North and Siddha is
practiced in Southern part of India. ‘Siddha’ the most ancient indigenous system of
medicines of Indian origin is practiced exclusively in Tamilnadu and in some
parts of the neighboring states. Perhaps, it is the foremost of all other
medical systems in the world. Its origin dates back to BC 10,000 to BC 4,000 (Sambasivapillai, 1931; Pillai, 1979). Its literature
is entirely in older script of Tamil mostly on palm leaves. Unfortunately, no
systematic attempt has been made, so far, either by Tamil savants or by
Siddha medical practitioners, to render critical evaluation of the age old
traditional system of medicine. This is due to the enigmatic nature of the
texts and secretive attitude of Siddha practitioners (Subbarayappa, 1997).

Siddha is largely therapeutic in
nature. Siddha owes its origin to Siddhars (holy immortals). Herbs, minerals
and products of animal origin are basic raw materials in Siddha. Since,
Siddha System of Medicine relies on herbs, it has fewer side effects. Siddha
comprises of Alchemy, Philosophy, Yoga, Mantra and Astrology (Pillai, 1979;
Hausman, 1996). In Bogar Nikandu, more than 4,448 diseases have been
described with herbal remedies (Manickavasagam, 1978). Siddha is effective in
treating chronic cases of liver, skin diseases, rheumatic problems, anaemia,
prostate enlargement, piles and peptic ulcer. It has been proven that
traditional medicines are effective in treating several venereal diseases and
AIDS (Haddad, 1998).

Recently, there has been a
resurgence of traditional medical systems the world over, based on the
holistic nature of their approach to healing (WHO, 2002). The efficacy
of indigenous systems has been proved in various contexts. Hence, usage
of Siddha that has strong cultural and historical bonds with the people of
Tamilnadu is becoming increasingly relevant. In a heterogeneous public
domain, wide array of factors such as economic status, psychological state,
social behavior and occupation are known to influence the practice of
traditional system of medicine (Richard 1965; Robert et al., 1968; Paul et
al., 1987; Dunlop et al., 2000; Sarwade and Ambedkar, 2002). Therefore, to
analyze the factors that influence consumer attitude towards the usage of
Siddha medicine needs to be explored. The present study aims to examine the
occupation as a factor that influences the public behavior in the usage of
traditional system of medicine.

METHODOLOGY

Hypotheses

It has
been proposed that there exist a relationship between place where consumer(s)
works, their attitude, source from they gain knowledge about the medicine and
usage of siddha medicine in Tamilnadu.

Study Area

Tamil Nadu is located between 8.5o
and 13.35o north latitudes and 76.15o and 80.20o
East longitude covers an area of 1, 30,058 sq km. Bounded on the north by
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, on the west by the Western Ghats and Kerala on
the east, the state has coastline of about 1,000 km. Population of according
to 2001 census is 6.02 million accounting for 6.6 % population of India, with
a density of 429 as against the national average of 267 per sq km. The sex
ratio is 974 females for 1000 males as against the national average of 929.
The literacy rate is 63.72 % against the national average of 52.11%. The
decennial growth of the population is 19.59 % as against the national average
of 29.3 %.

Period of Study

The study was carried out in
Tamilnadu, India for a period of one year during Jul 2007 to Sep 2008.

Pilot Study

In the present study, Siddha
medicine consumers were selected. A pilot study with a view to find out
suitability of information furnished in the interview schedule for consumers.
The pilot study is undertaken with 32 sample consumers from 4 regions each 8
in Tamilnadu viz., Chennai, Covai, Madurai and Trichy. The subjects were with
in the age group of 15–75 years. The subjects had different occupations,
different level of income, were literate/ illiterate, married/ unmarried,
male/ female.

Interview Schedule

A well structured interview
schedule was used to evaluate the response from the consumers. The questions
in the interview schedule was divided into three parts namely part I, part II
and part III. The language in the interview schedules was simple,
clear and free from technical terms. The questionnaire was bi-lingual both
Tamil and English and all the questions were objective so as to obtain
unbiased response from the subjects.

Sampling
Design

The entire subjects were categorized as government employees,
employees of private concerns, business people, farmers and skilled labors.
Sampling was related to consumer subjects. As compared to allopathic
medicine, consumers of Siddha medicine were less in number. Therefore, it was
very difficult to identify the consumers of Siddha medicine. Hence, it was
proposed to identify the consumers of Siddha medicine at Siddha hospitals,
Siddha clinics and Siddha medical shops. Uniformly, 110 consumer subjects
were selected from each occupational category. Since, sample size was large
and population chosen was a heterogeneous group from different parts of the
state, purposive non-probability sampling method was used for collection of
the data. The subjects were with in the classified into four groups from the
beginning, switch over from Homeopathy/Unani, switch over from Ayurveda, and
switch over from Allopathic.

Collection of Data

In the present study both primary
and secondary data have been used. Primary data was collected from the
consumers (across four different regions viz. Chennai, Covai, Madurai and
Trichy in the state of Tamilnadu, India) by employing an interview schedule.
Further, the subjects were categorized as government employees, employees of
private concerns, business people, farmers and skilled labors. Sampling was
related to consumer subjects.

Data Analysis and Statistical Tools

The study is exploratory and
empirical in nature. The collected data were classified and tabulated with
the help of statistical packages. Percentile and Chi-square Test were used
for the analysis of the data.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

It has been pointed out by
Yesudian (1989) and Yoder (1989), that health services utilization in urban
India is influenced by wide array of socioeconomic parameters. In the present
study, consumer respondent’s method was employed to analyze the usage of
siddha medicine among the selected subjects in Tamilnadu. Consumer response
obtained from respondent employed in different sectors and categories viz.,
government employees, employees of private concerns, business people, farmers
and skilled labors across different sectors in the state is presented in
Table 1.

From the present study it is
inferred that more than a 50% of the subjects who are government employees
use siddha medicines from the beginning and rest switched from other
traditional system of medicine Ayurvedic. Majority of respondents from the
category of private employees and business persons (41.60%) have switched
over from Allopathic to Siddha. More than two third of the skilled labors
(67.24%) and nearly a half of the farmers (49.15%) use siddha medicines
having switched from Homeopathy and Unani system of medicines.

It is clear from the above
discussions that the skilled laborers and the farmers mainly use siddha medicines
from the beginning, whereas government employees those who use siddha
medicines have invariably switched over from other system of medicines. The
computed chi-square value 132.7 is greater than its tabulated value at 1 %
level of significance therefore, the hypothesis is rejected. Hence, it is
concluded that there is a significant difference between respondents of
different occupations and their usage method of siddha medicines. More of
skilled labors and farmers used siddha from the beginning and employees of
both the government and the private sector have shown positive response
towards the usage of Siddha medicine.

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